I'm up to a winning streak of 72 now! That might be an all time high for me! =)

But I've played enough tonight. Must.... rest.... brain.....

-- Ryan

My valiant battle against Free Cell has ended with 73 victories.

• moment of silence*

I will be back.....

-- Ryan

For those of you who are curious to try to the game I failed to win, it's game #16695. =)

-- Ryan

This might be the very first time in my life I've regretted—if only for the briefest of moments—that I use a Mac at home and at work.

Even DiMaggio's streak had to end at some point. Well done, Ryan!

-AG

Even DiMaggio's streak had to end at some point. Well done, Ryan!

I usually don't "do over" games I lost since even if you win them, the stats still won't update with your win. Very unfair, I think. *nodding* But this time, I wanted to beat that game, so I did it over again. It wouldn't continue my streak, but darn it, I wanted to beat that game.

Even in the do-over, I almost lost it again! That's a really tricky game to win. *nodding* For a while, I was thinking I might have to redo the do-over! But I finally beat it. The game can be won, but it's not easy!

-- Ryan

My valiant battle against Free Cell has ended with 73 victories.

Only because your concentration has been diverted to trying to crack AQ passwords I suspect :-D

Which is the more fun, Freecell or password cracking? How many more passwords have you left that you can't crack?

YT

Try game #11982

Which is the more fun, Freecell or password cracking? How many more passwords have you left that you can't crack?

Hmm.... Tough call. I've been able to crack about 10% of the passwords on AQ so far. I could probably do a lot better if I more personal information about everyone such as spouse's name, children's names, pet's names, etc. I tried some names at random, and about half of the passwords it cracked matched their own name. I assume the other half belong to spouses, children, pets, or other near and dear people. They're still bad passwords, but only from the standpoint that people who know you would be able to crack it. An 'outsider' like me would have more trouble--especially if it's not a common name. But then, the people most likely to try to break into an account ARE people you know!

Speedsquare suggested I try hunter and hunting which cracked another 10 accounts.

Other successful passwords I've found include zodiac signs (which seems appropriate as of late) which got into 16 more accounts. Kokopelli pulled in one more. Gems seem to be popular--trying various gemstones got me into seven more accounts. The months of the year got me into six more.

I think I've nabbed most of the easiest passwords, but it's still surprisingly easy to crack additional ones.

It's fascinating. I kind of wish all the passwords weren't encrypted so I could browse through them and see what other patterns I'm missing. But it's somewhat disturbing that I can break into about 10% of the accounts on Atlas Quest with just a bunch of guesses.

At least new members or those who try to change their passwords won't be able to use the worst offenders anymore. I'm really tempted to require at least one number in a password. If that was a requirement, I think I'd find it much more difficult to crack these one-word passwords. (As long as they do something more clever than adding a 1 or a 123 to the end of the password, at least!)

I want a secure website, darn it. =)

-- Ryan

Try game #11982

I think I'll pass, but thanks for the suggestion. ;o)

-- Ryan

I was doing some Google searches about that game just to see how much effort has done into proving that game is unwinnable. Fascinating stuff. But here's an interesting challenge I found on one website:

Play both 18492 and 22574 with a 52 card flourish - that is all the cards need to go to the destination cells in one automated move.

I'm intrigued..... I might try to do this. =)

-- Ryan

how 'bout ...

ninja
stealthy
camo
unlock
locknlock
inky
inkyfingers
road
roadwarrior
happytrails
pandora
pandorasbox
clueless?

Let us know if any of these should be added to the no-no list.

My pwl has always been 9 characters long and contains letters and numbers. And it has NOTHING to do with letterboxing.

If I had to guess two of those words as being passwords someone is using, I'd guess pandora and clueless. And sure enough, those were the only two of the list that people were using--one for each of them.

Interestingly, I accidentally tried the password "fingers" meaning to type "inkyfingers". While "inkyfingers" didn't find any matches, "fingers" did match one password.

Three each for "atlas" and "quest" I just found.

-- Ryan

I have always used letters and numbers. I also always make up a sentence and then only use the first letter of each word and I mix in numbers along with the letters. I would be amazed if you cracked mine!

have you tried:
logbook
boxinglog
lblogbook (letterbox logbook)

I know people sometimes use the state they live in or one they like to visit, or one their kids live in, etc. How long would it take your computer to try 50 state names? :-)

safecracker? sneakypete? usmc? usarmy? usnavy? usmarine? mamaw? papaw? outdoors?
georgebush? I don't know why that one popped into my head.

and now for some place names ...
atlanta, nashville, sedona, chicago, newyork, ctboxer, buckeye, hoosier (definitely not mine), yooper, gamecock or gamecocks (somebody in this group has to have that one), pinkpanther, agathachristie, nancydrew

other misc.
nascar24, nascar, tortuga, thruhiker

I could come up with a lot more, but only if these give you some hits.

how about
member
lbmember (letterbox member)
football
baseball

Sorry I didn't pay attention to the subject line until now.

How could I forget this one....

Holy Grail?

logbook
boxinglog
lblogbook (letterbox logbook)

I did try logbook, which matched one password. I didn't try boxinglog or lblogbook, but I wouldn't have expected to find any matches with that. People tend to use one-word passwords. (I did just check, and sure enough, neither of them matched any passwords.)

I know people sometimes use the state they live in or one they like to visit

That's a good idea! I broke into about 23-or-so more accounts using state names. =)

safecracker? sneakypete? usmc? usarmy? usnavy? usmarine? mamaw? papaw? outdoors?
georgebush?

The only one of this group I thought might be good is outdoors (or maybe just 'outdoor'), but struck out on both of them. I tried some of the others but was striking out and quit.

and now for some place names ...

Place names are probably a good guess, but there are a LOT of place names so it would be almost impossible to make a complete listing of those. Of some of the large, metro areas I've tried, though, I found several more matches.

hoosier (definitely not mine), yooper, gamecock or gamecocks (somebody in this group has to have that one), pinkpanther, agathachristie, nancydrew

There is one person using hoosier (and you're right, it's not you!). Nobody is using gamecock (sorry to disappoint!). Nancy Drew I thought was a likely choice (although I know Amanda doesn't use it) and I found two passwords with that. (No, neither of them are Princess Lea either!)

other misc.
nascar24, nascar, tortuga, thruhiker

What? You trying to guess my password or something? ;o) Foreign words don't get much use, although there almost certainly are some. No tortugas or thruhikers as passwords, though. There is one person using the word nascar for a password, though.

member
lbmember (letterbox member)
football
baseball

Sport is a good choice--I could imagine a lot of people using that, and both football and baseball are being used. So is member. I didn't try lbmember, though, since it's a compound word and I don't expect there to be any.

I need to set up a page you guys can use to see how well you are at cracking passwords. =)

-- Ryan

I need to set up a page you guys can use to see how well you are at cracking passwords. =)

That would be fun!

Is there any way for you to tell how many people changed their password since this discussion began? (I wasn't one of them - I don't think anyone would guess mine)

TG

what about religious things like

bible
jesus

I bet hobbies might be popular too:

knitter/knitting
puzzle
hiking
sudoku

It's been an interesting discussion. I usually use a combo letter-number passwords, but there are two I use that don't include numbers. I don't think they're obvious though. Even most people who know me wouldn't guess these names.

My husband's in IT, so he's constantly changing his password. He often uses obscure Belgian beer names, although that's not what he's using currently (so I felt free to say that).

I need to set up a page you guys can use to see how well you are at cracking passwords. =)

Okay, you can do your own guesses now at http://www.atlasquest.com/people/pwds.html

I'd imagine religious themes and hobbies would be popular passwords, but I haven't tried them yet. =)

-- Ryan

I'd imagine religious themes and hobbies would be popular passwords, but I haven't tried them yet. =)

Lots of Jesuses, but no Bibles.

As for hobbies, have you tried searching for passwords like geocaching or geocache? Hahaha! =) There actually are some people with that password! =)

-- Ryan

scored with happy! I wonder how the other dwarves do. . .

Off to take my walk and plant my letterbox. I may try some more when I get home. Lurve me some puzzles!

Woohooo thanks this is going to be fun..... Off I go!!!!!!!!!!

butter - 3
marshmallow - 1
pepsi - 2
cocacola - 1
computer - 2
missy- 2
pirate - 2
boxing - 3
buttons - 1
elvis - 5
prince - 1
hiking - 9
fishing - 1
camping - 2
gunner - 1

This is suprisingly easy

Mr. Yuk

scored on:

beautiful
sweetheart
summer

another on
autumn

have to give up for now. I will try more later.... this can be addicting

This is suprisingly easy

Isn't it, though? *nodding*

You guessed marshmellow, though? //Marshmellow?!??

Gotta admit, I would have never thought to guess that one. =)

-- Ryan

Here's some more cracked passwords:

4 each - booger, smokey
5 - treasure
2 - swimmer, chicago, braves, capecod, buckeye

Single hits on ..
moxie
indy1
austria
canada
redrocks
savannah
wolverine
hoser
love2box